Thursday, February 20, 2025, 6:03AM |  16°
MENU
Advertisement
Suspected shooter Luigi Mangione is led from the Blair County Courthouse after an extradition hearing on December 10, 2024, in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania.
2
MORE

Police analyze fingerprint on cellphone as UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting suspect remains jailed

Jeff Swensen / Getty Images

Police analyze fingerprint on cellphone as UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting suspect remains jailed

Authorities are analyzing a fingerprint on a cellphone found in their investigation into the man charged with killing UnitedHealthcare’s CEO

ALTOONA, Pa. — Authorities were analyzing a fingerprint on a cellphone found after the killing of UnitedHealthcare's CEO as suspect Luigi Mangione fought being sent from a Pennsylvania jail to New York to face a murder charge.

The New York Police Department's top detective, Joseph Kenny, told CBS New York on Tuesday that no prints were found on bullets that killed Brian Thompson, but one fingerprint on a cellphone was recovered. He said the evidence was being processed and didn't say whether it appeared to match Mangione, the 26-year-old charged in the shooting last week in midtown Manhattan.

Authorities have said that writings found in Mangione's possession hinted at a hatred of corporate greed.

Advertisement

They’ve recovered a spiral notebook that Mangione kept, along with a three-page handwritten letter found when he was arrested, a law enforcement official said Wednesday. Police have not officially disclosed what was in the notebook.

A reward poster hangs on a light pole outside the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan where Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was fatally shot ,Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in New York.
Claudia Lauer
McDonald's employee who called 911 in CEO's shooting is eligible for a reward, but it will take time

The letter, found when Mangione was arrested Monday in Altoona, Pa., teased the possibility that clues to the attack — “some straggling notes and To Do lists that illuminate the gist of it” — could be found in the notebook, the law enforcement official said. The official wasn’t authorized to disclose information about the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Two police sources also disclosed to the New York Daily News details of the notebook recovered when Mangione was nabbed.

“He felt shooting a CEO was better than trying to set off a bomb because he didn’t want to hurt anyone he felt didn’t deserve it,” one of the sources said.

Advertisement

Kenny told CBS New York that the motive might have been related to an accident that sent Mangione to an emergency room on July 4, 2023.

A law enforcement bulletin obtained by the AP earlier this week said the letter expressed anger with what Mangione called “parasitic” health insurance companies and a disdain for corporate greed and power. The prep school and Ivy League graduate wrote that the U.S. has the most expensive health care system in the world and that profits of major corporations continue to rise while life expectancy doesn't, according to the bulletin.

In his first public words since his arrest, Mangione emerged from a patrol car Tuesday shouting about an “insult to the intelligence of the American people” while deputies pushed him into a courthouse. Mangione remained jailed without bail in Pennsylvania, where he was initially charged with gun and forgery offenses.

Manhattan prosecutors were working to bring Mangione to New York. At a brief hearing Tuesday in Pennsylvania, defense lawyer Thomas Dickey said Mangione will not waive extradition and instead wants a hearing on the issue.

Gov. Josh Shapiro, center, speaks during a press conference regarding the arrest of suspect Luigi Mangione, Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, in Hollidaysburg, Pa., in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Ford Turner
Pa. twist in NYC murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO puts Gov. Shapiro on national stage — again

“You can’t rush to judgment in this case or any case,” Dickey said afterward. “He’s presumed innocent. Let’s not forget that.”

Mangione was arrested in Altoona, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of New York City, after a McDonald’s customer recognized him and notified an employee, authorities said.

New York police officials have said Mangione was carrying a gun like the one used to kill Thompson and the same fake ID the suspected shooter had used to check into a New York hostel, along with a passport and other fraudulent IDs.

Thompson, 50, was killed Dec. 4 as he walked alone to a Manhattan hotel for an investor conference. From surveillance video, New York investigators determined the shooter quickly fled the city, likely by bus.

His movements afterward are unclear, but authorities believe he took steps to stay off the radar. Prosecutors said at his Pennsylvania hearing Tuesday that when arrested, he had bags for his cellphone and laptop that prevent such devices from transmitting signals that authorities can use to track them.

Mangione, a grandson of a well-known Maryland real estate developer and philanthropist, had a graduate degree in computer science and worked for a time at a car-buying website. During the first half of 2022, he bunked at a “co-living” space in Hawaii, where those who knew him said he suffered from severe and sometimes debilitating back pain.

His relatives have said in a statement that they are was “shocked and devastated" at his arrest.”

New York Daily News contributed.

First Published: December 11, 2024, 5:47 p.m.

RELATED
Blair County District Attorney Peter Weeks speaks to the media at a press conference inside the Blair County Courthouse on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. Mr. Weeks discussed the case against Luigi Mangione, charged in the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Midtown Manhattan sidewalk on Dec. 4.
Jacob Geanous
Blair County DA: Apprehension of suspect in shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO brings unprecedented attention
Jessica Tisch, the police commissioner, speaks at a news conference about the investigation into the killing of Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, in Manhattan, Monday, Dec. 9, 2024. A man has been arrested on gun charges and for questioning in connection with last week’s killing of Thompson in Midtown Manhattan that prompted a manhunt up and down the East Coast, the New York Police Department said.
Dionne Searcey And Sarah Kliff
Reaction to CEO killing exposes frustrations with health system
This undated photo shows UnitedHealthcare chief executive officer Brian Thompson.
Amy Julia Harris and Ernesto Londoño
UnitedHealthcare CEO laid to rest as family mourns privately
Luigi Mangione is taken into the Blair County Courthouse on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, in Hollidaysburg.
Ashley Southall and Maria Cramer
Police have suspect’s notebook describing rationale for CEO killing, sources say
Luigi Mangione, a suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, receives a citation for failing to observe a posted closed-area sign in Honolulu on Nov. 12, 2023.
A.O. Scott
Analysis | What can we learn from the CEO shooting suspect’s Goodreads history?
SHOW COMMENTS (0)  
Join the Conversation
Commenting policy | How to Report Abuse
If you would like your comment to be considered for a published letter to the editor, please send it to letters@post-gazette.com. Letters must be under 250 words and may be edited for length and clarity.
Partners
Advertisement
Penguins hall of fame broadcaster Mike Lange works the play-by-play during the Alumni game at Heinz Field on Dec. 31, 2010.
1
sports
Mike Lange, longtime Penguins broadcaster, dies at 76
Penguins broadcaster Mike Lange during a press conference at Consol Energy Center.
2
sports
Jason Mackey: What Mike Lange meant to me, and why we must carry on his incredible legacy
Allegheny Hospital Network's first baby of 2025, Luka Gold Cunningham, was born at 12:45 a.m. New Year's Day at AHN Wexford Hospital. He wouldn't have made the top baby names for 2024 but, for 2025, who knows?
3
news
AHN reveals its top baby names of 2024
Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Keeanu Benton (95) celebrates an interception against the Cleveland Browns at Acrisure Stadium on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024, in the Northshore. The Pittsburgh Steelers won 27-14.
4
sports
Gerry Dulac's Steelers chat transcript: 02.19.25
Beaver’s Brady Mayo (No. 4) scored 15 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter of Wednesday's WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinal.
5
sports
WPIAL boys basketball quarterfinal roundup: Brady Mayo's strong fourth quarter lifts Beaver past Central Valley
Suspected shooter Luigi Mangione is led from the Blair County Courthouse after an extradition hearing on December 10, 2024, in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania.  (Jeff Swensen / Getty Images)
26-year-old Luigi Mangione is taken into the Blair County Courthouse on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, in Hollidaysburg. Mangione is believed to have been carrying a firearm similar to the one used in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. He yelled at the media and was forced into the courthouse.  ((Benjamin B. Braun/Post-Gazette))
Jeff Swensen / Getty Images
Advertisement
LATEST news
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story